This programme contains some scenes
which some viewers may find upsetting
How's Witness Protection?
Yeah, it's good.
How's it going with the families?
The families' civil suits
against Pan Am have just started.
Bob Monetti
and his family just won theirs.
This is PT/35.
We looked at it under magnification
and found this.
What the hell is MEBO?
HE SPEAKS GERMAN
He's admitted to making the timers
and selling them to the ESO.
Do you recognise
the person in that sketch?
I think that could be a man
I know as Abdelbaset.
Let's get this over
to our shopkeeper in Malta
and see if he actually recognises
him as the shopper.
I think it could be him.
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
Senior intelligence officer in the ESO.
You'll find two more names in
there, Ahmed Khalifa Abdusamad
and Abu Agila Masud.
Masud flew into Malta
on the seventh of December.
And what about Abdusamad?
He did visit for one night
later that month.
The number that Abdusamad
called from the hotel belongs to
a Libyan man named
Lamin Khalifah Fhimah.
He was recently a station
manager for Libyan Airlines.
- The diary says...
- "Get tags for Abdelbaset."
- Luggage tags.
- The CIA have an asset.
His name is Giaka, a Libyan ESO agent.
And what does he want?
Safe passage for him and his wife.
Did you see Fhimah
at the airport in December?
I did see Fhimah with a suitcase.
It was like this one.
Look at this, Megrahi's card from
when he arrived in Malta is filled out
with the same block capitals
as Abdusamad's later that month.
That's why we haven't been
able to find a photo for Abdusamad.
He is Megrahi.
What do you think, d*ck?
I think we've got him.
Today, almost three years after
the Lockerbie air disaster,
Britain and America pointed
the finger of guilt at Libya.
NEWSCASTER: The evidence
is overwhelming according to the
President Bush's administration.
NEWSCASTER: Gaddafi insists the
two Libyan suspects named as the bombers
are innocent and a fair trial would
be impossible in America or Britain.
The UN Security Council will
move to sanctions.
NEWSCASTER:
Almost all neighbouring countries are
refusing Libya permission to fly
its aircraft into their airspace.
Our nation will never stop
pursuing justice.
NEWSCASTER: Mr Blair is facing questions
over the Lockerbie investigation.
The South African President,
Nelson Mandela,
backs Libyan demands for the trial
to be held in a neutral country.
Britain and the United States
have promised to back
the lifting of sanctions against Libya
as soon as the men are handed over.
We are on the way
to resolving all the outstanding issues.
So, the years of diplomatic efforts
have finally paid off
with the handover of the two Libyan
suspects.
The two men were
committed for further examination
and remanded in custody
at HM Prison Zeist.
NEWSCASTER: Pierre Salinger for ABC
is the only reporter with access
to interview the two men
accused of murdering 270 people.
Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah's diary is
key for US Authorities.
Allegedly, Fhimah made
a note in this diary to remind him
to get hold or Air Malta luggage tags,
one of which was used to label
the suitcase containing the b*mb.
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi stands
accused of masterminding
the bombing of Pan Am 103,
a charge he strongly refutes.
The accusation is wrong.
Truly.
I am DCS Tom McCulloch.
Many of you remember my predecessors
John Orr and Stuart Henderson.
I am honoured to be
following in their footsteps
as SIO on the case as we approach
the trial.
A trial that I am aware you have
waited a long, long time for.
The Foreign Secretary has recently
stated that there was no reasonable
prospect of the accused being
delivered for trial in Scotland.
But he thinks there is
a chance that they will be
delivered for trial in a third country,
as many families here have long
proposed as the only solution.
What we have arrived at is a plan
that the trial will take place in
a Scottish court in the Netherlands.
Sorry.
Why the Netherlands?
As the host nation of the
International Court of Justice
and the International Criminal Court,
the Netherlands was suggested
by Libya and others.
We're letting Libya pick the venue?
With just two men standing trial
to represent a whole state?
Our goal was indictments
against all involved...
..but what we know,
is different than what we can prove.
We've waited 11 years for a trial,
and this is the best that we get?
The rule of law is all we have.
What's the alternative?
We resort to revenge and
retaliation, and more Lockerbies.
I agree.
To have a trial date
and a venue set is an achievement,
and it is your achievement.
The work of families in Britain
and America has made Libya realise
that there will be consequences
for the mass m*rder of your
loved ones, friends and neighbours.
The UN has implemented the fiercest
sanctions possible.
Your lobbying efforts have
effectively ground
the Libyan economy to a halt
and forced Mr Gaddafi to the table.
The trial may be in the Netherlands
but it'll still be under Scottish law.
It will be a little part
of Holland that is briefly Scotland.
There'll be a Scottish jury?
No. A panel of three judges.
The Lord Advocate recognised that
it's unreasonable to ask
a Scottish jury to spend many months
away from their families.
Yet you're asking us to.
My wife Linda died never knowing the
truth of what happened to her own son.
I am very sorry to hear that. Truly.
It makes it even more important
that the rest of us be there
to participate.
Thank you.
My son would have been 30 this year.
Might've had his own kids.
Your family's determination over
this past decade,
it's been inspiring.
I want to be there to look those
men in the eye,
but I don't see how we can attend
a long trial in Europe.
Yeah, I mean,
financially it's impossible.
Most families in our group are just
ordinary people, trying to get by.
Look, it's a long shot,
but I've been working on a plan.
And it's one I hope to take to the
Attorney General.
THEY TALK QUIETLY
- Hi.
- Mr Marquise.
Thanks for flying in at such
short notice.
Oh, not at all. It's a critical
moment. Hi.
Alastair Campbell QC.
This is Alan Turnbull QC.
d*ck Marquise, FBI.
Right. We all know why we're here.
We have a witness problem.
Gauci has pulled out.
He says his family has suffered
enough already with all
the attention the case has brought.
Do we have a legal avenue?
Well, the UK doesn't have
an agreement with Malta
to compel witnesses, no.
So, what are our options?
Make him feel safe enough to change
his mind and travel willingly,
but at this stage, that is a big ask.
So where are we with the other key
witnesses,
Bollier and Giaka?
Ultimately, we just don't know which
way Bollier will go.
Well, he knows that Gaddafi's
regime is ruthless.
If Bollier goes back on the testimony
he gave in the Swiss Court,
then Giaka becomes even more key.
He's our inside man at the airport
linking Fhimah to the plot.
But credibility is always a stretch
with paid informants.
Well, regardless, I'm not entirely sure
that Giaka's going to testify, either.
What? Is he
scared of character assassination?
Well, that, and actual assassination.
His wife, kids.
Even though they're
in your federal WITSEC?
You've never lost a witness?
You secure Giaka.
We'll do everything we can to
salvage the situation with Mr Gauci.
Copy.
The fight to protect
witnesses continues.
And now you're joining it.
Our job on a major m*rder case
or big drugs bust is simple...
DOOR OPENS
..to make sure those that tell
the truth do not suffer for it.
So any questions, guys?
OK, that's it for the day.
Thank you.
DCS McCulloch.
Oh, I know, sir.
How's preparation for the trial going?
We need your help
with Mr Gauci in Malta.
OK. He's refusing to testify?
He needs reassurance that we can
properly protect him and his family.
John Orr always said your WITSEC
expertise would come in handy
if we ever made it to trial.
He said that we could
always rely on you.
Is that still the case?
Absolutely, sir.
This takes us up to zero.
- So, we have to find a way...
- How was Scotland?
Complicated.
What? How did you get into the building?
I said we had a meeting.
- And do we have a meeting?
- Well, we do now.
What's this?
It's a proposal we drew up with
Attorney General Reno
at the Office for Victims of Crime
to fund families' travel to the trial.
Travel?
Kathryn, this... this is a lot of
families,
especially for a trial that
could last months.
I mean, this would be
millions of dollars.
I know. It's a tough ask.
And what's this?
It is a second proposal
for families who can't travel.
So, I'm pushing for a video feed
into remote viewing sites that we'd
set up in New York, London, DC, and
Dumfries, which is near Lockerbie.
The Scottish legal system can be
very specific.
Cameras in the courtroom's not
really their style.
It's a first, but I'm already
in touch with their Lord Advocate.
'Course you are.
Just don't want you to get
your hopes up.
I thank you in advance for
your support. Call me tomorrow.
- Mm-hm.
- Mm-hm.
We're managing the witness
problem as best we can.
So, what else can sink our case?
Well, we need to prove
beyond reasonable doubt
that Megrahi is Abdusamad.
Mm. And what's the defence's
strategy going to be?
Er, they may try and bring up
Jaafar's name again.
They'll certainly argue that Megrahi
wasn't in Malta at the time.
And that he only had one passport.
We have Megrahi's handwriting
on the Abdusamad embarkation card.
Yes. But what we really need is the
Abdusamad passport itself,
which proves that Megrahi was in
Malta on the 21st of December,
travelling on a false passport.
HE SIGHS
My team in Libya raided Megrahi's house.
- And?
- We found no sign of it.
But the investigation continues.
Right, well, let us know
if there's a breakthrough.
Absolutely.
Tony Gauci?
Who are you? What do you want?
I'm Ed McCusker.
I run Scotland's witness
protection programme.
He's not a witness any more!
- You are...?
- Paul Gauci.
Tony's brother.
The stress from your case already
k*lled our father.
You want him dead, too?
PHONE RINGS
Go.
I'm sorry to hear about your father.
Hello. Mary's House.
Hmm.
May 3rd's the day most of the
families never thought they'd see, Tony.
half a million pages of evidence,
all building to this.
Look, I can understand
if you're nervous about
the consequences of testifying.
If you've been threatened, intimidated,
you need adequate protection.
I have protection.
OK, easy there.
A Libyan man
came into the shop last time,
looking around for a long time.
OK, well, you're a shop...?
He didn't buy anything.
He wasn't here to shop.
Tony, even if you don't take the stand,
you need a proper security plan,
and one that doesn't involve antique
weapons. OK?
I can start small, better locks,
CCTV cameras.
SIS are keeping a close
eye on Malta for us.
They said there's no serious threat
right now. My point is,
we're committed to doing everything
necessary to keep you safe.
Yes, but what about Megrahi and Fhimah?
They're in a purpose-built,
high-security jail attached to the court.
No interaction with you.
Armed guards.
b*mb-detection stations.
Sniffer dogs. The full business.
You wouldn't be called straight away.
You've got time.
Think about it.
We don't have many visitors.
But you're happy here?
We are safe here.
But we won't be safe
if I testify in court.
What you say on the stand is up to you,
but, er, we do need you to testify.
Testify to what?
I can tell the court that Megrahi
and Fhimah were both Libyan ESO
agents, but everybody knows that!
I saw them with
the suitcase at the airport but...
..the media are saying I am
eyewitness to the whole bombing!
It's not true.
I'm set up to fail!
BOYS SHOUT AND LAUGH
The judges still need to hear from you.
- I'm not sure...
- Majid.
- I'm not sure I...
- Majid, you have to listen to me. OK.
Libya would let me stay silent.
Why did you leave Libya?
I don't remember.
I do.
You were scared.
That's Gaddafi's version of silence.
You know what I think
of Gaddafi's regime.
Yes, I do.
But the world doesn't.
I, er...
I would need my face hidden.
In court?
Yeah, we can do that.
My voice, only my voice.
Whatever you need.
What matters is that you're heard.
You want funding for every American
family that wants to travel?
No. We want funding for all
families, anywhere in the world,
who want to travel to the trial,
or to the designated viewing sites.
You persuaded the Lord Advocate
to permit a remote feed?
We did.
Cameras will be allowed
in a Scottish courtroom
for the first time.
I knew you were a fighter
the first time I met you, Kathryn.
Thanks for fighting with us.
OK. I just spoke with McCulloch.
The defence have submitted
the passport in the name
of Abdusamad, and McCulloch's team
have found the Libyan
passport official who issued it.
El Gharour.
So could he back up Giaka's
claim that Megrahi
and Fhimah were ESO operatives?
Potentially.
The question is how do we get him
to testify?
Why would Gaddafi allow it?
Well, he allowed, eventually, these
two defendants to stand trial.
So, he has a history when it comes to...
..offering sacrificial lambs.
He'd still rather spare them.
Complete humiliation of the West.
Vindication of all his denials.
It's worth a try.
It's the biggest mass m*rder
trial in British history,
with more than 1,200 witnesses.
REPORTER: The world's press
have descended on this disused airbase
to report the trial.
And this morning,
relatives of victims have been
arriving from America.
REPORTER: These people have
spent 12 years waiting for explanations,
This is why we're here. This is
my daughter, this is Theo Cohen.
REPORTER: But they're frustrated
that only two men are on trial.
I may be able to see these
guys go to jail
and live long enough to see
them get out.
And that's not justice!
What is really important
is to penalise the government
and the people who sent them
to do mass m*rder.
MELEE OF VOICES
Now, you can step out at any time.
And one of my team will take you
back to the family area
or wherever you need to go.
That is Megrahi's lead QC: Taylor.
And that one?
Fhimah's lead counsel, Mr Keen.
And the witnesses?
They can't be present in
the courtroom until they're called.
COURT ATTENDEES MURMUR
All rise!
I call upon the Clerk of the Court
to read the indictment.
The charges against you are,
one, between first of January 1985
and 21st December 1988,
both being members of, the Libyan
Intelligence Services,
and being respectively the head
of security of Libyan Arab Airlines,
and station manager of Libyan Arab
Airlines,
you did conspire together
and with others to further
the purposes of the Libyan
Intelligence Services
by criminal means, namely, the
destruction of a civil aircraft
and the m*rder of its occupants.
And in pursuance of said conspiracy,
k*lled, and you did m*rder them.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi how
do you plead, guilty or not guilty?
I am not guilty.
Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah,
how do you plead, guilty or not guilty?
Not guilty.
It is our position, my Lords,
that Mr Megrahi is not a member
of the Libyan secret service, and
was not, in any event, in Malta
when the b*mb was allegedly
loaded there.
We will show Your Lordships
in the coming weeks
that my client, Mr Fhimah, was an
ordinary employee of Libyan Airlines
in Malta, and that no credible or
reliable witness can demonstrate
he had knowledge of any plot to
bring harm to Pan Am 103.
REPORTER: A momentous day
for relatives of the 270 people k*lled
when Pan Am 103 was blown up.
Tomorrow's evidence will begin with
the moment Pan Am flight
The verdict will come next year.
Mr Feraday, over the many years you
have carried out
forensic examinations of expl*sive
devices,
have you built up an expertise
in their use and effect?
I've looked at every expl*sive
device with an electronic context
that has been found over the
last 30 years on the UK mainland.
I've examined perhaps 1,000 devices.
Once you'd completed
your examinations of the Toshiba
radio instruction manual fragments,
you said you worked with the FBI
to identify another fragment,
which you determined to be
part of the expl*sive device?
I refer you to Photograph 334.
This b*mb-damaged fragment PT/35 is
from a timer circuit board
found in the grey Slalom shirt.
Photograph 334 here
shows it exactly as recovered
prior to sample removal.
And did you conduct any comparison
exercises with the fragment?
Extensive comparison work, yes, sir.
And did you find and report on what
a layman might call a match?
Lab men also call it a match.
The most fruitful comparison
was with control
samples of MST-13 timers
manufactured by MEBO.
MEBO being a company run by Mr Bollier,
who, we will hear, supplied
timers to the first defendant.
I take objection, my Lords!
My apologies.
Mr Feraday, might you summarise
your report on PT/35?
I concluded that the MEBO timer
fragment had an intimate
involvement with the expl*si*n.
I wrote in my notes,
that along with the Semtex,
it represented the only
piece of modification to the radio
necessary to convert
it into a delayed-action b*mb.
REPORTER: The weeks have
turned into months here at Camp Zeist
in the Netherlands, where
the Lockerbie trial continues.
Victims' families,
have heard evidence from hundreds
of experts detailing the immediate
aftermath of the bombing,
and the painstaking
operation of searching
and collecting the vast
quantity of wreckage from the plane.
I do solemnly, sincerely
and truly affirm and declare
the evidence I shall give shall be
the true, the whole true,
and nothing but the true.
MAN COUGHS
Mr Bollier,
you "don't recall" when you
began your company with Mr Meister?
Well, I believe it was in 1970.
Did you own a radio ship back then?
Yes. Correct.
Did you sell that radio ship?
Yes. To the Libyan Broadcasting Company.
And did you move on from that
to supplying timer devices
to Libyan Intelligence?
Mr Bollier, you heard my question?
That is correct.
Timers to Libya, yeah.
Was one of the Libyan Intelligence
officers who paid you
for timers, Abdelbaset?
Yes.
A colleague of his was seeking
to rent office space from my company
in Zurich.
Then, later, I met him again, in
December 1988.
- In the weeks before Pan Am 103...
- Yes.
Yes, I saw Abdelbaset again,
in Tripoli.
And have you seen Abdelbaset since?
Yes.
I see him today.
He's the first defendant sitting there.
The witness indicates Mr Megrahi.
Your Lordship, we will refer back
to footage of Mr Salinger's
interview with Mr Megrahi for ABC News.
I couldn't recognise a timer,
even if you give me one now.
I wouldn't know what it is
unless you told me.
Mr Bollier,
is this part of one of your timers?
Well, I can't be certain.
Mr Bollier, you have previously
testified in a Swiss court
that this fragment of timer was
created by your company and sold
to Libya.
Well, I am not sure.
How can I be sure that this is
one of my timers?
Libya could be innocent.
I could be uninvolved.
The CIA should check.
MURMURS OF DISBELIEF
I believe you've had your own
interactions with
the CIA, Mr Bollier?
You left a letter at
the Vienna Embassy on the
Well, er...
One moment please, Mr Bollier.
In it you stated that
you knew Libya to be
responsible for the Pan Am attack.
Well... But...
A man in a... in a coat, a
Mackintosh, made me write that letter.
Let me get this straight.
A mystery man
in a Mackintosh
told you to claim Libya
bombed the plane?
He approached me one day,
encouraging me
to... to write this fiction
to the embassy.
He didn't happen to have a trilby
pulled down over his eyes, did he?
Wha...? What...? No.
He didn't.
Do you recall hearing zither music?
HE CLEARS HIS THROAT
Unbelievable.
REPORTER: The bereaved
left court distressed tonight,
after evidence they said was
hair-raising and chilling.
REPORTER: It may not have had
the dramatic impact of last week's
evidence,
but victims' relatives listen to
every word of today's testimony.
What we're sitting through,
we've been at this 11 and a half years.
They k*lled our children,
we're not going away.
Look, guys, if there's any chance
of you changing your minds
and helping bring justice to the
families, I work for you, Tony,
I will keep you both safe.
I know what I'm asking is not easy.
You guys have got a lot of history here.
Yes. Yes, we do.
The only way for you to be
completely safe
is witness protection.
And that means different country,
and new names.
But our name is Gauci!
It was our father's name.
And what did it stand for?
Good, honest business.
Loyalty.
And conducting ourselves with honour.
Nothing else.
Paul...
..we will go to the Netherlands.
I will try to testify.
We'll go.
But if something happens
that's dangerous
or different from what you promised,
we're finished.
We're gone.
OK.
REPORTER: Heavily guarded,
his identity concealed,
the Crown's key witness slipped into
Camp Zeist this morning.
A CIA double agent who also worked
for the Libyan Intelligence services,
Abdul Majid Giaka has been living in
a witness protection programme
in the US for ten years,
waiting for his day in court.
Witness number 684.
Abdul Majid Abdul Razkaz
Abdul-Salam Giaka.
Mr Giaka, what age are you?
Um, I am, er, 40 years old.
Born and brought up in Libya?
Yes. In Tripoli.
And did you attend university there?
Yes, I finished my studies in 1983,
and I began working in 1984.
For whom did you begin working?
The Jamahiriya Security Organisation.
The JSO, also known as the ESO.
And what type of organisation was that?
Libya's Intelligence agency.
I worked for them,
er, like many young people do.
Better than military service.
And when you moved to Malta,
were you still working in intelligence?
Yes, I took a job
for Libyan Arab Airlines.
A cover job.
All of us
in intelligence had cover jobs.
And what was your specific cover job?
I was made the assistant station
manager in Luqa airport, Malta,
um, in the airline security section.
And who did you report to?
A more-senior intelligence officer -
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
His cover job was head
of the airline security section,
and Mr Fhimah's job
was our station manager.
So, you had the chance to observe
Mr Megrahi and Mr Fhimah closely?
Yes.
I became concerned about what
he and Mr Fhimah would do,
and my organisation's
involvement in terrorism,
so I went to the US Embassy.
No further questions, Your Lordships.
Mr Giaka, to start quite simply,
what date was it in 1988 when you
went into the US Embassy in Malta?
Er...
A Tuesday. August.
It was the 10th of August 1988,
if facts matter to you at all.
When you came to the Americans
with your information,
you were living in
a... a rundown little place, no?
It wasn't in bad shape.
Well, that's a matter of taste,
I suppose.
Whereas now you've lived
very comfortably in the US
for over nine years?
It's not hard to see why you might
tell the Americans exciting
stories about expl*sives
and rush tags lying around in
Mr Fhimah's desk,
or why you claimed to have met
a mystery associate of Mr Megrahi's,
named Masud.
A man you have never even properly
identified a picture of.
They have found no pictures of him.
Isn't this all a series of paid lies?
I, er...
My information has been...
Aren't you a liar, Mr Giaka?
My information has been consistent.
I went to the Americans
before the plane was bombed,
to warn them.
I put it to you, Mr Giaka,
that you were a low-level nobody,
poor of education and money,
stuck in a nothing job
at an airline in Malta,
who realised that America could make
anything possible for you,
provided you told them enough
useful lies.
Does that sound accurate enough?
They undermined
his credibility in there.
Made him look totally unreliable.
He was terrified.
Credibility is
everything in a courtroom.
I mean, these judges expect
witnesses that can back up
our claims that the defendants
ex*cuted this plot together.
But now, we can't even definitively
put Fhimah at the airport
- on the 21st.
- Well, come on,
Fhimah's own diary...
No. The diary's not enough.
I mean, we have to show that
any assistance
he was gave was directly related
to a plot to blow up the plane.
I mean, these judges require
absolute certainty.
REPORTER: The seasons may be changing,
but the trial at Camp Zeist continues.
Today, the court will hear
from a Libyan government official
who is believed to have been
responsible for issuing
passports to Libyan Intelligence
officers, including Mr Megrahi.
Mr El Gharour, who is your employer?
The Libya National Passport Office.
You will see on your screen now
production number 1770.
Did you in fact issue this passport,
number 332351, for Mr Megrahi
under the name Ahmed Abdusamad?
I did issue this passport, yes,
on instructions of a letter from ESO.
A letter we see now, Mr El Gharour?
This is the letter. Yes.
Mr Megrahi had three passports
valid at the same time,
under three different names,
including this one,
which we can see was valid
from the 15th of June 1987
until the 14th June 1991.
Is it unusual for one person to be
assigned three passports?
Senior Libyan Secret Service,
like Mr Megrahi, need
a lot of passports.
Thank you.
Your Lordships, we refer you again to
Mr Salinger's interview
with Mr Megrahi for ABC News.
I only have one passport.
One.
Tony, whatever they throw at you...
..just tell the truth.
Think about your father.
Make him proud.
Joe?
It's been a long time.
Ed McCusker. I didn't expect to see you.
I heard you'd been moved off the case.
Oh, right, yeah. No, I was.
Don't know, turns out I'm still
a bit useful, which is nice.
How are you? This can't be easy.
Yeah, I'm OK.
Thanks for asking.
Take a seat over there.
Ed.
How are those girls of yours?
I mean, not really girls any more.
Yeah.
How did you get him here?
Tony's a good guy. He's an honest man.
- I'm going to sit down.
- OK.
Mr Gauci, you are fluent in Arabic?
I... I don't understand very good
Arabic, But I can...
Mr Gauci, I'm interested that you
don't understand very good Arabic.
The man who came into your shop
to buy clothes spoke in Arabic, no?
Arabic and Maltese.
Yet you understood his accent so
well you could tell he was Libyan?
A lot of Libyans in the area.
Mr Gauci, would it be fair to say
you have no definitive recollection
of the man you sold the clothes to -
his accent, nor his appearance?
I do remember him. But, after all
these years,
I can't remember everything.
Thank you for your honesty.
Let us talk about the day the Scots
police arrived in your shop.
You mean my family's shop.
I worked hard for many years.
I do an honest job, for many years.
That is not in dispute, Mr Gauci.
Yes, yes, it is.
And today I'm here to tell the truth.
Well, let us look at production 470.
If that could be on the screen, please?
And if we can turn to page three,
the bottom of page three.
I will read part of the police
statement which was,
presumably, read to you in 1991.
And what it says in the second half
of the page is,
"Mr Bell wrote down
a statement from me."
Is that true?
Yes. Yes, Mr Bell wrote it in English.
And given your limited grasp of
languages, mistakes could be made.
I signed the statement,
as you can clearly see.
And like I said before, I was shown
photograph 8, and at that point, I...
Your Lordships, I believe
image number 8 should be
put on the epidiascope and screens,
simply for clarity.
I confirmed many times, like I said...
- Very well, let us move on...
- What I said...
..was that from all the photographs
I have been shown,
number 8 is the only one really
close and similar
to the man who bought the clothing,
and he's that man sitting in the dock.
I didn't go to this store.
Umbrella?
What would I do with this?
The story of Lockerbie is... complex.
There are still gaps in the facts.
Gaps that we imagine ourselves into,
gaps that we hope time will fill.
But after 12 years of investigation
and many weeks of testimony,
there is much that we do know.
We know that on December the 21st 1988,
a b*mb caused Pan Am 103
to disintegrate in the sky.
We know that the town of Lockerbie,
overnight, became a vast
crime scene, divided into sectors.
And we know that the recovery of
bodies began that first night.
Forensic testing revealed
the expl*si*n came from within
a Samsonite suitcase
in pallet 4041.
The defence has not challenged this,
nor the evidence that the expl*sive
device was a Toshiba radio cassette
player fitted with a MEBO timer.
Parts of both the radio
and the MEBO timer were found
embedded in clothing,
including Yorkie trousers
that Mr Gauci remembers selling
to a Libyan man fitting the
first defendant's description,
in December 1988,
when Mr Megrahi has admitted
that he was in Malta.
And though he denies he returned to
Malta on December the 20th,
immigration records show that he did,
using one of his other passports,
the one in the name Abdusamad,
that he claims to know nothing of.
But, of course, has lied about his
whereabouts, as a guilty man must
when trying to keep his house
of cards, of lies, from falling.
Your Lordships,
once more we will refer you to
footage of Mr Salinger's interview
with Mr Megrahi for ABC News.
I was not in Malta over the 20th
and 21 of December.
Trust me,
I was in Tripoli, with my family.
Later in the interview,
Mr Megrahi again claimed,
"I was not in Malta that day."
Mr Salinger asked if he was sure,
and Mr Megrahi said...
This is a surprise.
But if I had time, I could find
the proof I was in Tripoli.
And I'm certain about it,
because I only have one passport.
One.
This is how a b*mb plot, like any
plot, any story, takes shape.
A chain of devastation that can be
traced back to one deceit after another.
A lie, upon a lie, upon a lie.
But truths, they can be linked, too.
The night before the bombing,
after Mr Megrahi checked in
to the Holiday Inn in Malta,
we contend that he and Mr Fhimah met
a third individual.
This third individual was,
we believe, Abu Agila Masud.
We have heard the defence imply
that Mr Masud does not exist.
Perhaps time will tell.
But Mr Megrahi and Mr Fhimah's
whereabouts are known.
From his Holiday Inn hotel room,
Mr Megrahi called Mr Fhimah.
It was 7.11am on the morning of
the 21st of December,
the day Pan Am 103 would go down.
And they had a plan...
to go to the airport with
the suitcase holding the b*mb.
The case was checked on to
Air Malta flight KM180
with a rush tag.
It flagged the case's ultimate
destination as New York,
via Frankfurt
and London.
The case should have been
checked multiple times.
But the defendants knew what others
in the airline industry also knew
in 1988, such safety protocols
were often ignored.
And when the case reached Frankfurt,
outdated X-ray machines were relied
upon as the only line of defence.
And when it arrived in London,
it was loaded onto Pan Am 103.
The plot had reached
a point of no return.
There was less than an hour left
on the MEBO timer attached
to the BomBeat radio in the case.
Time was ticking...
..and the last chance to save
lives was lost.
And to some extent, Your Lordships,
the rest is history.
Within minutes...
..hundreds of families had lost
sons, daughters, husbands and wives.
People from all over the world...
..coming home to loved
ones for Christmas...
..with no idea they would soon fall
from the sky
onto a small Scottish town,
as locals felt the heavens cave in.
So many futures were shattered
that cold December night.
And the world changed forever
in the way it looked at
international terrorism
and mass m*rder.
REPORTER: Tonight, the
court that has heard 84 days
and three million words of evidence,
is ready for the final day of
Britain's biggest mass m*rder trial.
From here, the three Scottish judges
will deliver their verdict.
The British relatives of the dead
say it will be difficult.
There you go.
Oh, thanks.
PHONE RINGS
The judges have reached a verdict.
My Lords, have you reached a verdict
in respect of each accused?
We have.
Would you give me, please, your verdict
in respect of the accused
Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah?
Not guilty.
PEOPLE GASP
Would you give me,
please, your verdict in respect
of the accused
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi?
Guilty.
Yes!
Are both verdicts unanimous,
or by a majority?
Both verdicts are unanimous.
Well done.
If this is justice,
why doesn't it feel better?
Well, because nothing's going to
bring back your son.
REPORTER: Tonight, behind
high prison walls, a Libyan Intelligence
agent is beginning a 20-year
sentence for m*rder.
And the man accused with him
is leaving for Libya.
The three judges admit there
are uncertainties in this case,
but nothing, they say, that gives them
any reasonable doubt
that Megrahi was the b*mber.
per victim,
and somehow that doesn't sit
right with me.
It is with a form of relief that
we experience this today.
You can't mend my heart.
Cos I still don't have her.
REPORTER: So, although the
world's attention may now move on,
with the feeling
justice has been served here,
for the 400 people who lost children,
the 76 people who lost
husbands and wives,
and the 140 who lost parents,
there are still more questions than
there are answers.
We knew that his bags were
found in 1989.
The last things he owned and touched.
Why have we had to wait so many
years to have them returned to us?
We suspected the defence would try
to reignite suspicions around your
son at the trial to provide an
alternative theory, however untrue.
We had to retain your son's
belongings in case
they were called into evidence.
I never thought there could be
anything worse than death...
..but 12 years of suspicion...
..that's been worse.
I am so very sorry for all
that your family's been put through.
Truly.
Please stay.
Why don't you have some tea?
Thank you.
That's very generous of you.
This must be the next generation.
Yeah.
They keep us busy.
I bet.
Mary Lou.
Margaret.
It's good to see you.
Oh, you, too.
- How are you?
- I'm good. Thank you.
- Hi, Margaret. Hi.
- Hello, Kathryn.
We try to spend Christmases
together these days.
Some years me
and my Hugh go to New Jersey.
And other years...
We're here in Lockerbie
with our Scottish family.
- Shall we?
- Yeah.
Come on, kids.
- Kathryn.
- Joe, it's so good to see you.
How are you?
- Ed.
- Good to see you, Joe.
- d*ck.
- Great to see you.
Hey, I just wanted to say
thank you, all,
for everything you've done on the case.
No. Thank you, not just for fighting
for justice, but for change.
The families should have been protected
and prioritised from the start.
We can't make that mistake again.
I remember my first sight
of Lockerbie after the bombing.
I remember the destruction,
the wreckage.
But I've realised that isn't
what this place is.
This town's character lies in the
efforts of ordinary people
to rebuild, to repair,
to be there for each other,
to step up, generously, in the most
extraordinary circumstances.
And to make whole
some of what was destroyed.
Families from all over the world
were welcomed here.
Kindness and communication arose
from the worst atrocity.
Grief has remained,
but Lockerbie has set an example...
..we hope future generations
will follow.
BAGPIPES PLAY
REPORTER: The Lockerbie b*mber
Libya-bound, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi
boarded his plane to Tripoli
just two hours
after Scotland's Justice Minister
had confirmed he was to be released.
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